Michaelann

I once asked the prominent left-wing activist Michaelann Bewsee about her first name. I told her that, while of course I was familiar with both the name Michael and Ann, I had never seen them combined that way. She replied with a story to the effect that while her mother was pregnant with her, her father was all set on having a boy he would call Michael. Of course in that ancient realm of the late 1940's it was impossible to tell what sex a child would be until after it was born. When the blessed event occurred and the new baby turned out to be of the female persuasion, her father stubbornly stuck to the name Michael and just jammed an Ann on the end to feminize it.

For the rest of her over 71 years, Michaelann would continue to be other than what people wanted her to be. Politicians didn't want her on their their backs, but she never gave them respite from her relentless activism. The stale and corrupt political establishment in Springfield only wanted her to shut up and go away, something she never obliged them with doing. Her secret power was that she was fearless, and therefore never backed down no matter how powerful the forces she faced. She understood that sometimes the best strategy is to just keep on coming until you wear the fuckers down.

Unfortunately, Michaelann generally brought her formidable political talents to all the wrong causes. A shameless socialist whose group Arise for Social Justice once invited the Communist Party candidate for president to hold a rally at their headquarters, Michaelann was none the less open to other people and ideas. Certainly she was always very nice to me. The last time I saw her was over a year ago, when I was walking down State Street by STCC, and apparently having noticed me passing by through the window, she came out of her office, called out to me from the sidewalk and waved. I regret now that I didn't cross the street and speak to her, but I was trying to catch a bus and so I just smiled and waved back, having no idea I would never see her again in this world.

One time I asked Michaelann why she was so friendly towards me, considering that we held almost diametric political views. "Because we're both anti-establishmentarians," she replied, which was the first time I had ever heard that term used in a conversation. It means, "A political philosophy that views a nation's or society's power structure as corrupt, repressive, exploitative, or unjust.' According to Michaelann, "The only disagreement between you and me is over what to do after the revolution." Presumably, in that post-revolutionary period we would part ways, she to advocate for her socialist utopia and I working towards libertarian liberation. In the meantime, we were both trying to smash the same machine, and therefore to Michaelann we were comrades in arms against the same local political foes.

As it has turned out, Michaelann will not be here for the revolution to which she dedicated her life, if in fact it ever comes. Yet she was a wonderful troublemaker, and I will always admire her for the good example she set for every political activist, whatever their views. Go raise some hell, why don't ya? Do it with Michaelann's blessing.

Speaking of activists, Springield's controversial Sal Circosta (right) was at the Trump rally in New Hampshire this week with friends Joseph Yacovone and Dario Gagliano.

Congressman Richard Neal as he appeared in a Tech High yearbook from the 1960's.

The UMass Grad Research Center as seen from the Integrative Learning Building.

Amherst has an inferiority complex.

I stumbled upon David Starr on a table in Northampton's Pulaski Park.

The other morning I took a shortcut through Thornes Marketplace before most of the shops were open.

posing with a famous twig painting